In the field of portable electronic devices, placing shock pads on the front side and the back side of a camera module enables the camera module mounted within the housing of the portable electronic device to survive drop events. The shock pads absorb and dampen the impact of a drop and prevent that impact from being directly translated to the camera. However, these shock pads usually include foam or elastomer materials that add to the overall z-thickness of the camera stack in the final product. In addition to increasing the form factor of the camera stack, shock absorbing materials and components may interfere with the optical alignment of a camera system, as the camera system may not recover an original configuration after a shock event has occurred. This is detrimental to optical alignment since the shock absorbing material may decouple optical components from alignment features such as a datum frame located in the housing of the portable electronic device. Accordingly, a datum frame is a feature that may be used as a reference for optical and mechanical alignment.
Therefore, what is desired is a system and a method for mounting a camera assembly in a portable electronic device that provides reliability and protection to the camera assembly and to the portable electronic device.